When dwelling is sharing: the new era for collaborative housing in Europe

By Sara Brysch and M.Arch and PhD (c) At Faculty Of Architecture And The Built Environment and TU Delft and The Netherlands

AbstractThe rise of the ‘sharing
economy’, together with the current affordable housing crisis and an increased
awareness of environmental issues, may have contributed to the recent re-emergence
of alternative housing models in Europe, such as the so-called collaborative
housing, challenging the ‘monopoly’ of the profit-driven housing market. Usually
(collectively) designed as a combination of individual units and shared spaces/facilities,
these models represent a new approach towards domestic habitat, where dwelling also
means sharing. So, how can (co-)design contribute to create innovative housing
solutions which encourage communal living? Is there (or should be) any criteria
for the design of shared spaces in housing? This paper aims at investigating the design features
and processes of these projects, and assess their suitability in the current
socio-economic context in Europe.

The last decades were marked by the
emergence of new forms of economic practices, namely the so-called sharing
economy. The basic notions of ‘access’ and ‘collaboration’ are gradually gaining
momentum as some others, such as ‘ownership’ or ‘property, start to feel obsolete, unsustainable and
unaffordable to the contemporary urban consumer. A more conscious and
needs-based approach towards consumption is contributing to the development of
theories of ‘degrowth' and ‘slow living’.

In this sense, the
recent recurrence of collaborative housing in urban centres (e.g. renewed
co-housing models, new residents’ cooperatives and other types of resident-led
initiatives), where people co-produce their own housing complex and consciously
commit to live in community, may be justified by the above mentioned
socio-economic developments. Communal living has long abandoned the prejudice
of being something for hippies or squatters. Several new innovative initiatives,
such as the self-organised co-funded
projects of Baugruppe in Germany and
Switzerland; the new residents’ cooperative models in Spain; or the Habitat Participatif movement in France;
are evidence of the recent adherence (by urban citizens) to these
community-oriented shared dwelling forms.

In collaborative
housing, the future residents are usually highly involved in the design phase
of the housing project. The subsequent collective decisions about design and
construction aspects tend to lead to more functional and cost effective housing
solutions, often resulting in
new typologies of minimum individual units connected by commonly shared spaces and
facilities, the ‘cluster apartments’. In this sense, a link can be established
between the adopted design criteria (based on quality, efficiency and space
standards) and the soviet and central European experiments of collective minimum
dwelling (dom kommuna and Existenzminimum) carried out during the
1920’s, a time also marked by great social transformations.

The main purpose of this article is to
focus on the design criteria (and physical outcomes) of (co-) design processes in
collaborative housing, from an socio-spatial perspective, in order to analyse if
and how this emergent housing model may represent a
systematic (by the presence of patterns), community-oriented and affordable housing
solution to the urban dweller.

aftabkhatri· Jul 20, 18 6:39 am

Dwelling has become sharing now, and I am just confused as I say that. It's something I never thought would happen, and my essay writing service mates can back me up on that. The world is changing and all the businesses are changing with it.